Working memory filtering continues to develop into late adolescence.

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Science
• Developmental Psychology

Background:

• Working memory (WM) performance typically stabilizes by mid-adolescence.
• Neural development in fronto-parietal regions for WM encoding and maintenance is well-understood.
• Developmental trajectories of WM filtering remain largely unexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if the neural basis of WM filtering matures later than WM without filtering.
• To examine the developmental changes in the brain regions supporting WM filtering.
• To understand the role of the basal ganglia in WM filtering during adolescence and adulthood.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a cued WM filtering task (McNab and Klingberg, 2008).
• Investigated neural activity during WM filtering in 64 adults and adolescents.
• Analyzed brain activity in relation to task load and filtering cues.

Main Results:

• WM activity increases with load were consistently found in the fronto-parietal network across all ages.
• Adults, unlike adolescents, showed basal ganglia recruitment upon presentation of a filtering cue.
• This basal ganglia activity in adults correlated with successful filtering, both neurally and behaviorally.

Conclusions:

• WM filtering and associated basal ganglia functions appear to mature beyond adolescence into adulthood.
• The basal ganglia play a crucial role in successful WM filtering, particularly in adults.
• These findings suggest a later developmental window for WM filtering compared to other WM processes.